Multipurpose Room Ideas

One of the easiest ways to maximize a small space is to make your rooms work smarter. Use these multipurpose room ideas to make the most of your square footage.

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Guest-Friendly Living Room

This Urban Oasis living room is perfect for accomodating overnight quests. Vern Yip considers the sleeper sofa a must-have. 'It's so important in New York to have things that actually serve many purposes,' he says.

Dining Room to "Hangout" Room

Once a rarely-used formal dining room, this space sees much more action now as an office space for mom and a hangout room for kids. The daybed adds seating and capacity for overnight guests. Photography by Christina Wedge

1 Room, 4 Functions

This 120-square-foot multipurpose great room functions as a family room, lounge, dining room and office. (That's the power of good design!) Two pairs of bookshelves placed back-to-back divide the space neatly but don't disrupt the room's flow. Design by Brian Patrick Flynn

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Multipurpose With a Murphy

It's a home office, it's a guest room — it's both! This desk unit by designer John Gidding has plenty of storage shelves, plus a hidden Murphy bed that pulls out for company.

Sleek Cabinets

The multipurpose home office/crafts studio/laundry room in this Green Home hides its many uses inside its wall-to-wall cabinetry. (The laundry basket makes more sense when you know that there's a stacked, front-loading washer and dryer inside one of the panels.)

A Tricky Table

This combination lounge and exercise room by contractor Chip Wade, host of HGTV's Elbow Room, has a secret weapon: a retractable coffee table that disappears into the floor at a touch of the button. That way there's no awkward shuffling of furniture when it's time to work out.

Custom Solutions

Sometimes you have to tailor the small-space solution to the room. Wade also tricked out this multipurpose great room with custom swing-arm desks. Finally — no more using TV trays as makeshift desks!